I’m a romantic

I started learning Swahili on Duolingo so that I could talk with my fiancée in Swahili. It’s what she grew up speaking along with English and Kikuyu. She calls it her "heart language.”

When I first started learning words, I didn’t tell her that I was learning Swahili secretly so she was shocked when I pulled Swahili words out of thin air. The look on her face was priceless. No one she had ever dated before had expressed any interest in learning the language, so she never imagined her husband would know Swahili.

Now she knows I am learning it, and she’s still surprised when I pull out a new word. It’s a great way to make her smile. Her parents speak Swahili often, so I’m also learning it to be able to have a better relationship with them and to surprise them as well. I don’t think at this point they know I’m learning it. I figure by the time I finish the Swahili course on Duolingo, I should be relatively proficient with my vocabulary and I hope to be conversational, especially since I am using it in conversation with my fiancée.

I thought this would be fun for other romantics out there to read, and maybe inspiring too that you can make someone you love smile by learning their language—literally!